Oakland, CA: The Self-Made City

Refugees, entrepreneurs, visionaries—these are the historic roots of Oakland, California. The city has long been home for people building new lives and imagining even better ones. But dreams deferred also haunt this place, in its empty post-boom skyscrapers, its infamous homicide rates and deep budget cuts. In the face of entrenched problems, though, the people of Oakland characteristically answer back with diverse, revolutionary solutions. Everywhere you can feel the forces of idealism, the belief that people working together can make this place with such enormous potential work better. And in a city where the government hasn’t managed to tackle the biggest problems, people know that if they really want change, they’ll have to make it happen themselves. In this episode we explore the rewards—and costs—for people dreaming big in Oakland.